


Charmed

by Buckye



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling, One Direction (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Harry Potter Setting, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-06-13
Updated: 2015-06-13
Packaged: 2018-04-04 04:58:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,205
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4126242
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Buckye/pseuds/Buckye
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Niall Horan runs the Leaky Cauldron for over five years now, making sure the gateway to Diagon Alley is easy accessible. The wizarding folk relies on his services, yet they don't suspect that the innkeeper they all welcomed warmly is merely a squib. Niall's regular, Zayn Malik, catches him one evening unable to charm some cleaning utensils into obedience. It goes from there.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Charmed

**Author's Note:**

  * For [justyrae](https://archiveofourown.org/users/justyrae/gifts).



> This was lovely to write as I adored the prompt given to me. I did my best to incorporate as much plausible aspects from the HP world, yet if you do find any mistakes in adaption of the AU or grammar/language those are entirely my own.  
> I wrote this as a pinch-hit.  
> Prompt will be posted at the end with additional notes, thank you for reading this, and enjoy!

An inn-keeper’s job was to be awake longer in the evenings and earlier in the mornings than their customer and when Niall had taken over this job he had been perfectly aware of it. He could get a good rest with minimal hours and energizing meals in between, sometimes could squeeze in a nap or two in the slower time past dinner. That was when the staff charmed the dish scrubbers and soap and water pots to do the cleaning on their own whilst lazily lounging back and just taking care that no water damage was done to the place.

Niall had taken over the Leaky Cauldron in a state worse for wear at a pretty young age simply because the inn had to be kept on running to work as the portal between the muggle world and Diagon Alley. While it wasn’t usually inherited Niall did have the advantage of being loosely related to the former owner, even though he dare say you wouldn’t be able to tell from his looks.

Still, Tom had been rather eager to retire and place the apple of his eye for so many years in the hands of the boy he used to periodically have over from an aunt twice removed, who was made to work in the summer and actually had taken a liking to the job.

Pleased to see that he didn’t have to worry for the foreseeable future about how his place would be treated he made an early exit, still paying Niall a visit or two every few months to check on him. That Niall had been running the place for over five years now didn’t lessen the urge to check on the boy he had known to be enthusiastic but odd at times.

Odd, in this case meant, an unusual amount of manual labour. For example, wiping the tables by hand as Niall was doing now after carefully locking the front door for the night. Niall used to tell Tom it was because he wanted to actually feel the place and not just tend to it and after a few summers Tom had grown to believe him. The truth though was that Niall couldn’t charm a cloth to clean the tables on its own, even if he tried.

It was nothing that has given him personal grief, he just did a lot of things with more physical effort and found ways to let other people do those chores he couldn’t perform without raising too much suspicion. Niall suspected that if he had been open about his… impairment then he would not hold such a gatekeeper position for the wizarding community.

Yet so far nobody had taken interest in Niall besides a professional one and he was determined to keep it that way.  
Which was why he was trying to keep the swearing as quiet as possible when presented with a mop and a bucket, charmed by one of his staff who had already left for the night, that had gotten a bit out of control. Positively sloshing the murky water all over the waxed planks between the dinner tables, the mop didn’t even attempt to gather the wetness back up.

Cursing like a sailor on shore leave without any rum in sight Niall set down the cloth he had just finished wiping the tables with and jumped after the bucket.  
Trying to not slip on the puddle that had formed around the self-refilling cleaning utensil (which usually was a blessing for a clean inn, but right now only added to the mess) Niall leapt for the handle and caught it mid air. However his heel lost grip and losing his balance he was forced down in the middle of the puddle. 

With soggy clothes sticking to his butt and arms he scrambled back onto his feet and tried dragging the bucket away without losing any more water. Aiming towards the kitchen and the old sink with the lid to dry cutlery on, under which he planned to subdue the mess until he opened again the next morning, he managed a few steps before the bucket tried to assert its mind of its own again.

He was being pulled back by raw force and spilling a few choice obscenities whilst trying to not slip again. Yet he felt himself losing balance once more, when a hand steadied his shoulder and pulled him back upright.  
With a tight grip on the bucket handle and eyes opened wide in shock he stood straight again, face to face with one of his regulars who smiled fondly at him but still hadn’t removed his palm which was burning through Niall’s shirt when he realized who it was.

“Uhm, thank you.” Niall shot him a quick glance before staring back down at the bucket which had started to fight against his grasp again. “You wouldn’t mind…?” he inclined his head towards the bucket hoping his drift would be caught.

The heat lifted from Niall’s shoulder and with a quick flick of the stranger’s wrist and a muttered spell the bucket turned as mild as a kitten. Eyeing the overall mess the wand motioned once, twice, and the puddle evaporated into thin air and the mop returned into the bucket which Niall set down carefully.

“Yeah, uh, thanks again. For all of that.” Niall gestured wildly around the room which had cleaned in a matter of seconds but would have taken him at least another hour before he could have fallen into bed.

“Yeah, don’t worry about it, you’re welcome. Couldn’t let you flood my favourite inn, now could I? Where would I spend my after hours if you’d have to get all of the floor redone?” the wizard shot Niall a warm smile with only a dash of mocking in his eyes and Niall found himself turning a bit pink on the cheeks.

“And I wouldn’t know what to do without one of my favourite regulars whose name I don’t even know.” Niall noticed as soon as he said it. That _favourite_ might be a bit too personal. At least for a specific person. He himself was quite flattered when he heard his place being called a favourite. Nevertheless he hoped his opposite would overhear being called that and just take the invitation to tell Niall his name. Niall quickly attached a “Please, Merlin.” to that thought before he could wonder if Merlin would even listen to him, being void of magic and all of that.

After carefully tucking his wand away Niall was offered a handshake. “The name’s Zayn and you’re…” before finishing his sentence Niall had blurted out his own name, gripping Zayn’s hand and shaking it with a bit more vigour than was probably necessary. To his surprise, though, Zayn had said his name just as Niall had which had him throw the wizard a confused look.

Sounding a bit more hostile than he intended to, Niall asked how Zayn had known his name which earned him a low chuckle. Also his hand was dropped as Zayn stood a bit more upright, burying his hands in the pockets of his pants. Leaving Niall no time to think about the inappropriately long time of the handshake, Zayn spoke up again.  
“You’re the inn keeper. You _are_ aware that you basically have at least half of the British wizarding community come through your place at least once a month? And in case you forgot you’re on first name basis with almost all of those and remember not only a few in return. People like that.”

Zayn went to grab the bucket and mop then, but Niall stopped him with a hand to his shoulder.  
“They do?”. Seemingly undeterred by the disbelief in Niall’s voice Zayn was quick to assure him “Yeah, Niall, they do.”

Holding Niall’s smile with his own for a few heartbeats Zayn finally got ahold of the cleaning equipment. “So mind telling me where I can deposit these?” Instead of answering, Niall reached out and caught a hold of them himself.  
“Here, let me. Wouldn’t want you having to do my work. I’ll just dump them in the sink in case they act up again overnight and in the morning I’ll let Harry have a look at them.”

Niall started walking towards the kitchen but Zayn kept step with him and once they reached the kitchen spoke up. “Why don’t we do that now? He hasn’t seen what happened, so we’d know better what to do anyways.” Pulling two stools from under the kitchen aisle he gestured for Niall to sit.

Settling down on one of the stools himself he reached for the cleaning utensils in the hands of Niall, who hadn’t sat down yet. Tugging the bucket free with one hand he patted the place next to him, an invitation for Niall to finally sit, but he wouldn’t. He also didn’t let go of the mop.

With a sigh Zayn placed the bucket on the ground and looked up to the blonde. “Hey, what’s wrong? You rather go to sleep? You can just let me…?” but Niall was shaking his head. “Nah, ain’t tired. Just can’t charm the stuff, you know.”

Zayn inclined his head and frowned slightly. “Is it so stubborn that it only listens to that Harry you mentioned, or-” but Niall cut him off short. “I can’t charm anything, for that matter. So, uhm, if you wanna do it, alright. But I won’t be of any help.” He leant the mop against the aisle behind Zayn.

“Key to the door is in the third drawer from the left, bottom one under the counter. Knock yourself out.” with that he turned away, his face burning and hands clammy. He’d just spilled his biggest secret to a stranger. Only Merlin knows what that’ll do to his business once he spills. Oh god, what will Tom think? He trusted Niall! And the whol-

Niall’s worries were cut short with a firm hand around his wrist pulling him back. Zayn hadn’t even stood up entirely and for some reason Niall let himself be pulled backwards until he was seated on the free stool. Zayn quickly rubbed his face with both hands before blinking up at Niall.

“So you’re a squib. Big deal. You still run this place better than even the Goblins at Gringotts remember. And those have seen their fair share of owners of this place. I don’t understand how you do it without using magic, but considering you’re still doing this must mean there’s at least _some_ magic in you -” Niall didn’t dare look Zayn in the eye but his next sentence made his eyes shoot up to meet Zayn’s “-or else you’d just be a muggle.”

Zayn clasped Niall’s hands between his own, aware that the secret Niall had just shared with him was important enough to warrant physical contact.  
“Frankly speaking, I’m impressed that you managed to run this place even with all these stuck-up purebloods passing through and not losing your nerves that they might rally against you. That just speaks for your talent. What’s not being able to control a bucket worth being able to run an entire inn?”  
Zayn’s voice had gone soft and Niall had to chuckle at that “You know I work here since I can remember working, right? Tom would’ve never given me this place under any other circumstance.”

Zayn squeezed his hands tighter “Tom was a smart man then.”  
Niall’s ears heated up slightly and after a few more seconds Zayn let go of his hands. Rubbing his own together absentmindedly he cleared his throat “So… how about you hold your equipment tight while I give it a once-over and while we are at it we could maybe… “ Zayn’s speech faltered and Niall didn’t really know what to say so he just knocked his knee against Zayn’s who shot him a grateful grin.

“This is weird, isn’t it?” Zayn says, knocking his knee back. “Not if you don’t make it so.” comes the reply with a slightly more confident voice from Niall.  
“Alright, so what I’ve been trying to say is… you might still be able to work that bit of magic in you. And if you want to, I could help you with that? Just… just a few simple spells, nothing intricate but… some charms that would make your life easier.”

Niall felt caught like a ghoul in torchlight. On the one hand he didn’t actually feel the need to learn spells. Sure, sometimes he envied how easy everything seemed to work with a flick of a wand, but he never knew it so he didn’t miss it. On the other hand it would indeed ease a lot of things around the place. Which would, in effect, mean he’d get more time to sleep and eat and generally live life.

On an not entirely mysterious third hand Zayn was so excited and willing to help that Niall didn’t find it in him to say no. If this was mostly about spending more time with him, even if his attempts didn’t turn out to be fruitful, that was still worth it.  
Before Niall knew it he had started nodding. "Yeah, sounds briliant. If you actually want to spend your free time doing this, is the question."  
Zayn shot him a half-hearted glare. "I offered, didn't I?" to which Niall couldn't help but to agree.

Zayn gently placed the mop from behind him in Niall's hands. "This isnt exactly the best starter spell so I suggest we get this over with quickly and then make proper plans for proper training." Niall had to chuckle at that "From a proper wizard as well." Zayn joined into the fun with a huff and wide smile. "Exactly. A proper wizard."

After the laughter had died down Zayn got out his wand and let it glide slowly from the soggy bottom to the middle of the shaft, all whilst muttering under his breath and having his wand release thin strings and webs of different colours and glow intensity. Zayn had just opened his mouth to ask Niall to flip the mop so he could reach the top bit as Niall blurted out a "That is so beautiful." halting only for a bit when he saw Zayn's baffled expression he was quick to clarify "I know you're just fixing the mop but the light is so beautiful and you're so concentrated and-"  
Zayn cut him short in a rather soft voice "Don't worry about it, magic can indeed be beautiful _and_ useful at the same time. I'm glad you have an eye for it." before Niall could speak up again, Zayn continued "Now if you'd please flip the mop over so I can finish with the top half? More pretty magic for you to look at."

Niall beamed at Zayn and flipped the mop, but with his vigour he accidentally sprinkled Zayn and himself with a bit of the dirty water which had him stick out his tongue and close his eyes, making disgusted noises. Quickly wiping over his face he apologized to Zayn who he found looking at Niall's despair with utter fondness in his gaze. "Don't worry about it. There's worse things to get covered in."

Zayn quickly moved his wand from the mop to dry Niall and himself which had Niall stare transfixed as the wet patches on his shirt dried immediately. Then Zayn finished off the mop.When he was done he looked up to find a yawning Niall, covering his open mouth with his palm "Sorry, it's just so late. This isn't boring or anything." Zayn was quick to assure him "Never accused you of that. Now, the mop is alright. Somebody did an unnecessary upgrade in its... eagerness to swish and swirl, but it was quite easy to tone that down a bit. The bucket next? We don't want your kitchen to be flooded tomorrow."

Niall grinned. "With the protectiveness Harry zips around this kitchen I'm not even sure it's mine anymore." which had Zayn bark out a laugh which left Niall utterly perplexed and staring. Zayn's eyes had twinkled. "Ah, nonsense." was what Zayn had to reply "You own this kitchen and employ your worker, it's yours." Zayn knocked his elbow against Niall's who replied "That was before I was friends with him. Weasled his way into me more than tolerating him and then he started 'kitchen rules'. Ridiculous kid." Niall paused for a bit before he found himself adding "You'd like him! He's quick with a wand and makes more than solid food, it's fun to watch."

Zayn reached forthe bucket himself and thrusted it into Niall's grasp "Niall, everybody who talks with you more than a few minutes is your friend or at least considers themself to be. That's how you are. And maybe I'll get to meet that kid, sounds like a right whirlwind." Niall chuckled at that "With the mess he makes you'd think he'd be." After grabbing the bucket from Zayn's hands and placing it in his own lap Niall added "Does this mean we're friends?" and tried his voice to not sound too hopeful.  
"At the rate we're going I thimk we're due for that the second we start your training." Sticking his wand into the bucket he stirred it around as if he were cooking soup. "See, this one's a spell checking for damages done in other spells. You gotta move it across the thing you're checking or else you might miss something."  
Zayn seemingly had missed the fallen expression that had crossed Niall's face when Zayn hadn't deemed them friends immediately, but Niall was quick to light up with mirth "Was this my first lesson?" which earned him a warm smile and a shrug "Anything for my friend, the innkeeper."

 

After that they put the utensils back in the closets they belonged into and, guiding Zayn to the door, Niall and him quickly agreed on the next meeting. Set to return after work tomorrow, Zayn and Niall agreed to use the slow hours between teatime and dinner in the early evening. With a friendly wave Niall saw Zayn off and locked the door behind him before quickly falling into bed himself. Tomorrow promised to be exciting.

***

Niall spotted Zayn the next day after having emerged with yet another serving from the kitchen to place on a table not far from Zayn's usual spot. Sauntering over and greeting Zayn cheerfully he asked if he could bring him anything. Zayn politely declined and asked instead if Niall had a room set or something similar in which they could starts their little endeavor. Niall nodded and with a quick glance around to assure himself everybody was well tended to he gestured for Zayn to stand up and follow him.  
Stopping by the kitchen he quickly shouted through the slightly leaned door "Harry! I'll be in the back room. Make sure Louis keeps the guests happy and if you need anything you can't handle, we'll be in my office. Please do remember to knock."  
Harry waved a slightly damp towel at him and shouted back. "Don't worry about it! I'll be sure to remind him that his boyfriend isn't our only customer, well, considering how often Liam shows up and helps us fix things you might as well employ him." clinking a few glasses in the sink Harry chuckled for a bit while Niall rolled his eyes at Zayn who grinned in return.

"Well then go to _him_ if you need help and I'll think about giving him money for distracting my only personnel besides you!" Niall shouted back with a grin clearly audible in his voice and shut the door before Hary could come up with a witty comeback. Because that's what he thought they were, Niall told Zayn. Witty.

 

Niall led them into a simple backroom, it wasnt big and only had a small window leading out back into the muggle world. It was quite dark but Niall lit the two petroleum lamps on the walls and opened the curtains of the window so it wasn't as dim anymore. Right in front of the window sat a desk with a chair that was obviously made to match the workplace. Next to it was a chair from the general sitting room Niall had placed there even before his first guests had woken.  
Next to the desk was a shelf with stacks of paper, Niall's bills and plans.

Niall gestured for Zayn to sit and went to close the door behind them. "I know it isn't much but I didn't know what you'd want to do anyways so I figured I'd leave that to you." Zayn nodded appreciatively "Yeah this'll do just fine, a quiet room a bit away from the customers is exactly what I had in mind." Zayn went on to ask Niall to sit and when he had done so the wizard opened his usual bag he carried around.  
He took out a rather heavy book, placed it on the desk and set the bag down on the ground again. "Brought you something from back when I couldn't do a single spell. I thought we'd start with something easy so I'm glad you got your own ink and feather here." Zayn cut right to the chase and Niall was quick to reply "You gonna make me write an essay?" he asked with a grin. "Cause I got enough stuff to write down with the inn."

Without missing a beat Zayn shot back. "Well, how would I know you're really up for this if you dont know the basics?" to which Niall's eyes opened in horror even though only a few seconds later Zayn burst into laughter "I'm joking, Niall! Merlin be damned, you shoulda seen your face!" which earned him a mild box against the upper arm from the blonde. "You're cruel!" which had Zayn loose his fun in the blink of an eye "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to seriously upset you. Won't happen again." Niall could only smile back brightly.

Zayn held his gaze for a moment or two before he opened the book on the desk at a page he had dog-eared in advance. "So, I'm not one for much writing but if you want to read, this is what I had in mind. This book is from my first year so I'm certain it should be easy to get the basics right! Unless, of course, you set your quill on fire."  
That had Niall reach for the book and pull it closer so he could inspect the spell Zayn had picked and that could end in destruction.  
Niall blinked at the page once, twice, then read in an incredulous voice "Levitation?" Zayn only nodded. "How can a levitation spell set my quill on fire?" to which Zayn merely chuckled. "There's all kinds of things that can happen with magic but I must admit I was aiming for that reaction."  
Niall tried to glare at him but it wouldn't work, no matter how hard he tried.

Zayn pulled the book back out of Niall's grasp to lay it to the side and replaced it with the quill. "Ok so first of all, get your wand out. We'll practice the motion and incantation before you actually try to use it on the feather.' Niall hadn't reached out to get his wand but nodded in understanding. Sounds plausible. Except for the bit where he never got a wand and totally failed to mention that to Zayn. Turning bright red his fingers started to twiddle with the hem of his sleeve but before he could try to explain, Zayn had continued talking.  
"Alas, considering you didn't go to Hogwarts and I did't know if you inherited a wand from a family member, since you never mentioned anything like that, I took the liberty to bring you the wand handed down to me before I got my own." With that he leant down to the side and reached into his back again which had the side of his shirt ruck up slightly and Niall couldn't help but stare at the sliver of skin between the hem of the shirt and the pants, before Zayn had sat up again. Niall quickly averted his gaze.

In Zayn's outstretched hand was a rather short and stocky, originally probably not very dark wand that had gotten darker with use. "It's birch and unicorn mane, even though I don't know if that means anything to you. For the beginning it won't matter." he leant forward a bit "Here, take it." and so Niall did.  
He didn't know what to expect but nothing happened despite a small tingle when his finger brushed past Zayn's.

"Well at least nothing exploded." Zayn said. Niall shot him a questioning glance before looking down at the wand again between his fingers. Zayn's wand. His fingers were shaking slightly and his feet began to bounce, he felt delighted to finally be able to hold something magically that was, even though only recently, intended for him. At the same time he really didn't wanna blow anything up.  
"The first time I held that one I crushed my grandma's favourite collector's teacup. Even after a quick _reparo_ she said it wasn't the same, said there were a few splinters missing from the dust-like shards I had turned it into.  
Despite Zayn's joking voice his cheeks tilted pink and he averted his eyes for a bit before regaining his composure and sitting up straighter. "Well, anyways. Let me show you how this one works and then we'll get right to it!"

With that he pointed his own wand towards Niall's quill, spoke a clear _wingardium leviosa_ and waved his want in a quick downward curve and pulled it up in a smaller curve again. The feather was floating. Niall leant forward and it tickled his nose prompting him to sneeze in the opposite direction.  
Zayn spoke a warm bless you and when Niall looked up again the feather was still levitating at Zayn's wandpoint but he was smiling warmly at him, not really paying attention to the magic he was working.

"Caught all that?" he cut the moment short but the mild comfort from his gaze lingered and Niall just nodded. 

Zayn slowly maneouvred the feather back down onto the desk and stretched the arm in which he held his wand out. "Here, place your arm next to mine and hold the wand like this." Niall did as he was told but couldn't quite find the right balance at first and the wand kept lying too heavily in his palm or was too uncontrolled at his fingertips.  
He heard Zayn put his wand down and a moment later he had one hand around Niall's wrist while he corrected Niall's grip, moving Niall's index and thumb all whilst mumbling to himself. Niall culdn't help but ask what was going on.

"Oh nothing," Zayn tried not to worry him, "but usually you should be able to hold a wand way more easily. Like you hold your quill to write or a fork to eat."  
That had Niall grin at Zayn "Oh yeah, could've figured that one out." and he picked the wand up with his left hand. "Shoulda told you I'm a leftie, didn't think about that either." which earned him a nod from Zayn. "Yeah, look. That's how you hold it like a natural. Told ya you had it in you."  
Niall was positively beaming.

"Alright now that we got that covered the motion is basically..." Zayn didn't continue but he snatched one of the sheets of paper that were on Nial's desk and the quill he had just levitated, dipped it in the inkwell and drew the motion onto the paper.  
"Usually the just make you do it with your wand, but I foundit useful to draw it a few times beforehand so I knew I had the motion right, you see?" he kept repeating the two curves and they looked almost the same, as if Zayn was writing foreign letters instead of a motion of a spell.

He handed the sheet over to Niall, along with the quill and Niall laid aside the wand at the front of the desk so it wouldn't roll off it and began writing. He slightly smudged Zayn's examples becaue the ink had't been completely dry yet, but it wasn't too bad.  
When he had written three rows down the paper and already wondered if Zayn wasn't getting bored, he looked up to find Zayn flipping through the spellbook, dog-earing other pages, future spells for Niall to learn if this went alright.  
Niall really was about to do magic.

He placed the feather down and shook out his wrist a bit "Alright, got it.". Zayn looked up. A slow smile spread across his face. "Ready to do some magic?"  
"Well, ready to attempt, anyway." to which Zayn didn't reply.

"Hold your wand like we practiced. Do the motion and repeat after me. _Wingardium leviosa_. Ok? Oh and please do point your wand at the quill. I'll levitate your sheet of paper. On three."

Niall had his wand purposefully pointed, did the motion he had practiced and repeated Zayn's words. Niall's paper was in the air. His feather didn't give a twitch. "Wow let's not show off like that Horan, people's egos are on the line..." he muttered to himself sarcastically to which Zayn boxed him in the upper arm just like Niall had done to him earlier. "It didn't even work on my first try. Don't declare a bird flightless before it even grew feathers. Do you want to try again with me or want to do it alone till next time?"  
Niall contemplated.

On the one hand he wanted to spend some more time with Zayn, it wasn't every day he got one-on-one time with a person as lovely as him, but on the other hand he didn't want to disappoint him either with how this would turn out to not work at all. He was saved from making his decision by a knock on the door.  
"Niall, I don't know what you two are up to in there but the place is bursting and while I may be able to cook a lot, Louis ain't able to wait all the tables on his own!"

Niall shot Zayn an apologetic look before shouting back "Yeah alright, be there in a minute!" he turned to Zayn after he heard the footsteps turning quieter. "I'm so sorry, I would love to try it more often with you, it really helps but my inn needs me and-" Zayn cut him short by placing a hand on Niall's knee to stop it from bouncing, which Niall hadn't even noticed had started to happen. 

"It's alright, I know you have a job to do. How about we say this time and day next week? And if you ever need anything under the week you know I'll still be here. Keeping Liam company watching his boyfriend work. Make sure your personnel actually works. Doing good work." he ended with half a smirk and Niall couldn't help but grin openly at Zayn "Well thank you for that, and that sounds absolutely lovely. Thank you again for this today. And... and the effort you put into this. The wand, I, I still don't know what to say. If you ever want to actually consume something other than tea please know it's on the house. Or your tea, you know. Thank you."  
Niall ended his little speech with a smile from ear to ear and Zayn stood up, walking towards the door. Niall followed suit but when he turned to push the chair towards the table he caught sight of the book. "Hey Zayn, you don't wanna take it?" he called out while catching up to him.

"No, don't wory. I know most of those and I'm glad it's getting a second life. Read it if you want to!" with that Zayn opened the door and and held it for Niall to pass who shot him a look "Didn't I lock this?" suspicion thick in his voice only to be answered with a grin and a tongue poking out that had Niall transfixed. "I'll teach you that one later."

They rounded the corner and found Niall's inn bursting with people, almost all the tables were occupied and Louis was basically running through the place. Then he caught the eye of Niall who standing in the doorway. "Hey, Horan! In case you forgot: you got a pub to run! Harry got orders for tables three, seven and twelve ready, chop chop!" and off he went to deliver a handful of orders.  
Zayn merely raised an eyebrow at Niall who shrugged apologetically "Told you I feel like I'm the intern here. Can't even yell at them for not doing their job. Not that I ever yelled at them before or anything."  
Niall grabbed a short apron from behind the counter and tied it around his waist "So if you want to stay, I do believe Liam is sitting over there" he pointed in the direction slightly behind him "and if you don't: thank you again and see you next week!"

With that he jogged over to where Harry had placed multiple orders of food on the reach-through window to his kitchen and grabbed the orders Louis had indicated for him to get. He found one of them to belong to Liam and when he arrived with the plate he found Zayn grinning just a chair over "I'll have the 24 please, if you don't mind." and Niall shot him a warm smile and stopped for a moment to reply "No, not at all."

***

Zayn had left that evening as soon as the place had quieted down and Liam didn't need the extra company anymore, fully aware that what he had taught Niall had bee enough for a day. That night Niall had locked the pub door extra tightly, mildly wondering why he had never had a break in if it was that easy to open the door with magic.

 

Over the course of the next week Niall used as much of his spare time, if he didn't spend it chatting with Zayn in the afternoon or joining his staff gossiping in the kitchen, to practice the levitation spell. He didn't get his hopes up much, considering he hadn't been magical enough to warrant a letter from Hogwarts, but when on the night to sunday his feather suddenly gave a twitch and hopped slightly upwards he couldn't believe his eyes. So he tried again. And again. But it kept on happening and suddenly it was two in the morning and Niall only had three hours of sleep left to get.

 

Still he didn't sleep in. Sunday was one of the busiest days of the week, but it allowed him to have his off days on Mondays feel well-deserved. He naturally used them to sleep in until way past mid-day and even then his day wasn't really off, he usually did the paperwork then. Now his backroom slash office contained a wand though. And a spellbook. And a feather he had lifted.  
In awe he observed the quill bounce slightly up and down to his bidding, never more than a few fingers high, but moving nevertheless. He didn't even think about the useful application of this spell, just enjoyed it working.

Still he managed to lay aside a few hours to do the necessary paperwork, give feedback on Harry's food improvement suggestions and plans for the upcoming month, went through the little feedback box he had placed by the door where his guests could leave feedback of any kind and sorted away those meant for his staff, the ones he had to talk over with all of them and what was left for himself.The fact that he didn't have to put aside sappy boyfriend notes from Liam anymore sped up things spectacularly considering usually his guests were very vocal about their pleasure and displeasure. It was refreshingly honest, most of the time.

A slip of paper with his namebox ticked caught his attention next and when he found the scrawl belonging to Zayn he couldn't help the smile spreading across his face. The note was a simple thank you and encouragement to keep on trying. It was sweet, really. Niall put it in his top drawer and after filing away the rest of the slips of paper, called it a day.

***

When tuesday rolled around Niall was eager to show Zayn his progress and as soon as the place allowed him he had grabbed him by the wrist and pulled him into the backroom. He quickly locked the door, gathered the wand from the drawer and told Zayn to look. He let the feather bounce.  
Zayn let out a slightly shocked noise and stared at Niall in open wonder "You're really doing it! Magic!"  
Niall turned to Zayn and the feather flopped down again, "I know! Isn't it amazing? All thanks to you for making me do this!" he bounced on his feet and Zayn didn't stop smiling "No, Niall, I just showed you the how. The rest is all your doing! Thisis so great we can really work from this!"  
They stood smiling wildly at one another for a heartbeat or two until Zayn poked Niall's chest "Knew you had it in you." and Niall poked back "Thanks for telling me! Again." sobering up a bit he went on "Nobody's bothered to show me either until this point so really. Thank you."

Zayn kept beaming at him and sat down after a bit. "So do you want to learn something different or want to keep practicing this one?"  
Niall took his seat next to Zayn "Well, I don't like half-assing things. So if you could show me how you do it again so I can maybe make it float a bit higher and for longer... that would be lovely." Zayn reached for the quill whilst mumbling an "Absolutely."

 

The next month had Niall first floating his feather for longer and then higher, until he could let it twirl around Zayn's head without dropping it. Then Zayn suggested trying different trinkets and Niall felt back at point zero. Technically speaking, a small sheet of paper didn't weigh any more than the feather. Yet it wouldn't move an inch.

"That's how spells work, Niall, don't worry." Zayn said one particular thursday "You have to learn for them to be universally useful and not shaped specifically for one certain material. It means you have to strip the spell of specifics and get to it's core, only leaving the raw material without the things specifically needed for one thing. It's tricky but with each attempt at levitating something different you are getting there. The fact that you can do this much to a feather already alone is astounding, don't beat yourself up about it, you hear?"  
And Niall did hear. It still felt awful to have been absolutely baffled by his own skills one moment and then feel left beind in the dirt in another.

It took him another few weeks to get the paper to do the same thing as the feather. And then a needle. Then a button. With each object the time it took for Niall to let it float shortened and one day Zayn placed his glass he brought back from the table in front of Niall and he let it levitate. Directly out of the blue.  
Niall was so surprised he dropped it when he turned to check if Zayn had seen it, who indeed, had. Zayn also took this as his opportunity to teach Niall his second spell, awfully useful in a business like his. _Reparo_.

The motion was a weird kind of triangular spiral when Zayn fixed the glass that had met the floor. They started small with a paper torn into two pieces. Then a cup shattered into big porcelain shards. When Niall jokingly repaired half the cookie Zayn had crumbled one evening they deemed it enough.

The following week Niall dropped a dinner, a bowl of soup, because his feet hitched against a crease in the floorboards and while Louis was quick to charm up the soup before it could properly work into the wood, Niall was eager to fix the bowl. When he picked up the repaired piece he found Louis looking curiously at him and Niall couldn't help but ask what was going on.

"Just... I think that might have been the first time I saw you do magic and I've been working here for three years now." he unceremoniously dumped the ball of liquid he had kept held up into the repaired bowl and caught Niall blushing from ear to ear "You look like you're rooting for Gryffindor at a housecup match, you alright?".  
Niall was quick to nod "Yeah, brilliant!". Louis gave him a once over. "Well you better get a new serving of soup then."

Niall scrambled up onto his legs and did as sugges On his way back he was waved aside by Zayn from his usual table even though Niall hadn't noticed him coming in. "Hey Zayn, what do you-" but before he could finish Zayn had stood up and grabbed Niall's hand to pull him backwards, the blonde being too perplexed to protest. Once behind closed doors Zayn was absolutely beaming and Niall returned that, grinning so bright he had trouble seeing through his eyes.

Turns out for Zayn's next move he didn't need to see Zayn at all even though it offered him a split second of realization before Zayn's mouth was on his and Niall's back was against the door. A small _hmph_ sound left Niall who quickly shut his shock-widened eyes and melted into the kiss, closing his hand around Zayn's robe to pull him in tighter until he was pulled flush against him.

Zayn let out a soft keen at that and licked deeper into Niall's mouth, his hands clasped tightly in Niall's hair. Slowly melting against each other more and more, little huffs of breath leaving them inbetween kisses, they lost track of time and place, but a loud rapping against the door Niall was pressed against had them jump apart like startled bunnies. "Niall I know for a fact that Harry doesn't serve his soup in there. Stop snogging your boyfriend and get back to work!" Louis sharp voice cut through the room and when Zayn and Niall locked gazes they couldn't gelp but burst into laughter.

"Your staff does have a terrible tendency for interrupting at inopportune moments." Zayn huffed a bit short-breathed still. "Yeah, but they're also right. I really gotta...." Niall pointed behind him and threw Zayn an apologetic look.  
"Hey, wait." and Niall felt a quick press of lips against his own again and he sighed happily "Wanted you to do that since you gave me that wand of yours." Niall laughed out breathily.  
Zayn shot him one of his half-smirks with tongue pressed against his teeth "The wand is for later."

**Author's Note:**

> So my prompt was:  
> Niall's a Squib who's just taken ownership over The Leaky Cauldron. Zayn is one of the regular customers, but they've never really talked outside of the pleasantries between a bartender and a customer. But one day, Niall's having a bit of trouble with his mop and bucket - thinking everyone's left for the night - but is surprised by Zayn, who's completely baffled as to why Niall isn't using magic. Niall's not exactly ashamed of being a Squib, but he doesn't really like to talk about it - and yet he ends up telling Zayn anyway. In return, Zayn tells him he's got to have some magic in him ("or else you'd just be a muggle!") and vows to help him learn some simple spells. (Basically just an excuse to get close to him, perhaps a bit of wand-holding, if you catch my drift...)
> 
> Considering I never wrote neither Ziall nor HP, and my entire knowledge of the latter is based on the wiki... I hope it was to your taste. I do apologize for the lack of wand-holding.  
> Thank you for this lovely prompt!


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